In-plant Profiles

Duplicators Reenergize UT-Martin In-plant
January 1, 2007

The purchase of two Riso V8000 digital presses has given the University of Tennessee at Martin Digital Printing Services a new lease on life. A few years ago, the in-plant seemed to be in trouble. Its machinery was very old and some of its presses were broken. “Life expectancy for the print shop looked very dim,” says Susie Nanney, director of Information Technology Services Computer Store and Digital Printing Services. In the summer of 2005, the university’s Information Technology Services began managing the print shop and transformed it into a digital workplace, rebranding it “Digital Printing Services.” That fall, the in-plant added its first Riso V8000 digital

Two Decades and Going Strong
January 1, 2007

TWENTY-THREE YEARS ago, Keith St. Clair got a tip that a local print shop was looking for an employee. Knowing nothing about the printing business, he thought it sounded like an advantageous career path and took the job. “I didn’t know what to expect,” says St. Clair, now print shop production manager at Grocery Supply Co., in Sulphur Springs, Texas. “I thought I would just stand around and the machines would do all the work.” He quickly learned he would not be doing a lot of standing around. Born and raised in Sulphur Springs, about 80 miles east of Dallas, St. Clair graduated high school and entered

Construction Project Leads to Expanded Color Capabilities at BCC
December 1, 2006

A partial, temporary shutdown allowed the Print Shop at Burlington County College to expand its digital color printing capabilities. Last June, the six-employee operation in Pemberton, N.J., was forced to crate its presses and move its remaining equipment across the hall into temporary quarters so the college could complete a heating/air conditioning replacement project in its area. To continue serving the color printing needs of customers during this disruption, Manager Stephen Amitrano arranged a three-month loan of a Konica Minolta bizhubPRO C500. The 50-ppm machine performed so well that Amitrano decided to keep it once the shop returned to its digs. “It’s a life saver,” he

Mellon Financial Corporate Publishing
December 1, 2006

IPG Editor Bob Neubauer takes a tour of Mellon Financial’s Philadelphia in-plant with Mike Renn, assistant VP of Core Services.

Purefoy Named New Director at Purdue Printing Services
December 1, 2006

Purdue University has just appointed Cheryl Purefoy director of Printing Services. Scheduled to start in January, Purefoy will oversee the 60+ staff who design, produce and mail more than 25,000 production print jobs annually at Purdue. She will also coordinate the in-plant’s relocation into a new 29,000-square-foot facility, with construction to be completed in mid-2007. Purefoy, director of Printing and Mail Services at The University of Akron, fills the position vacated by Sandy Komasinski, who took early voluntary partial retirement in May. Purefoy brings more than 21 years of managerial experience, 15 of which were in the printing industry. She has served on numerous graphic

Ad Agency Opens New In-plant
December 1, 2006

Figment Designs, a Miami-based advertising agency, has started a new in-plant. Two months ago the company purchased a new five-color Heidelberg Printmaster PM 52 along with a Prosetter 52 violet CTP device, and hired three employees to run the equipment. After exceeding $400,000 a year in printing costs, co-owner Jeff Pankey said the shop brought printing in-house to control costs and better meet deadlines. “You want your clients to rely on your deadlines and promises; therefore, you have to have equipment you can rely on,” Pankey says. So far, the results have been excellent. Since installing the new gear, profitability has soared to 12-18 percent,

In-plant Wins $164 Million Contract
December 1, 2006

The U.S. Department of State’s in-plant has won a $164 million contract to handle the department’s printing for the next decade, beating out some tough competition from commercial printers. The award decision culminated an 18-month public-private competition, comparing the government’s ability to provide graphic design and creation, copier management and a standardized worldwide publishing workflow with the private sector bidders’ ability to provide the same service. The competition was part of the government’s Competitive Sourcing initiative. The Department of State expects to save approximately $80 million dollars over the life of the contract, with improved quality and increased capability to reach overseas audiences. “The biggest winner here

Xerox iGen3 Comes to Boise State
December 1, 2006

Ted Bailey didn’t need a crystal ball to know that changes were coming. “We saw the trend moving not just to more color, but to more sophisticated variable data campaigns,” says Bailey, manager of Printing and Graphics Services at Boise State University. The 15-employee western Idaho in-plant had done some simple black-and-white variable printing jobs, and its 32-ppm Canon printer was doing its best to meet color demands. But clearly the busy shop needed a faster, more variable-data-friendly color printer. So this past summer, after a lengthy bidding process, the in-plant installed a Xerox iGen3 digital production press with an EFI Fiery server. “I

Turnaround is Fair Play at SFU
November 1, 2006

WHEN RAJ Nadrajan took the job as director of Document Solutions at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, he knew the in-plant needed change. Upon his arrival he discovered the full extent of the task ahead of him and admits it gave him pause. “After my first few weeks when I joined the operation, I did not have much hope that the operation would make it,” Nadrajan remembers. “I even considered going back to my last position, but stayed to challenge my ability to make the operation one of the best in the industry.” Five years later that goal has become

Digital At Last in Delaware
November 1, 2006

The Delaware State Legislature may not realize it, but when their session starts in January, for the first time all of their legislation will be printed digitally. The four-employee legislative print shop has just replaced its offset duplicators with a pair of Xerox DocuTech 6115 printers with Freeflow workflow and a stacker/stapler/tape binding system. “It’s great,” proclaims Deborah Messina, Print Room supervisor, adding, “It’s really quiet in here.” She jokes that, without the presses, she and her staff have not ruined any of their clothes with ink stains lately. “And our hands are rather clean,” she adds. Though the shop has a Duplo DP-460H duplicator